Hey L, I think maybe you could look into the website Greentripe.com .......they are in california. Maybe they could direct you to a closer source.

GSDobe, I feed it whenever actually. I'm not overly regimented. Sometimes I'll feed it every day for 2,3,even 4 days, then I might give them other stuff for a few days,or maybe skip a week and then feed every other day the tripe.I try to mix around the variety of raw food that I feed and I do also supplement alot w/ kibble if I need to. I am just very careful what kinds I feed and how much and so on.

Happy feeding all <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I'll check into it. Thanks.

Does anyone have any comments on how much fatty chicken skin is acceptable????

I really need to pick up the new Billinghurst book!!!! In the meantime, I need a little help here and there.

 Quote:

Does anyone have any comments on how much fatty chicken skin is acceptable????

I'm gonna go out on a short limb here. The most basic biological mechanisms seem to be pretty comparable between humand and dogs. So, having said that...

What exactly do you mean by "acceptable"? Are you thinking in terms fat's implications on the dog's weight?

If so, the thing to remember is that fat loss, fat gain, and fat maintenence hinge on very simple math. Calories in, calories out. No specific macro-nutrient is solely responsible for this happenstance. This is because all macronutrients (fat, carbs, and protein) all can contribute to a net gain of fat. This is because our bodies (and a dogs) do not deposit dietary fat. Our respective livers must first re-construct our own biologically compatible fat from the basic dietary constituents. Dogs and cats on commerical food certainly don't get fat FROM fat. They are simply over-consuming calories...and those just happen to be mainly from corn and chicken feathers. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

In other words, if a dog burns 2000 calories on an average day, it will deposit subcutaneous fat if it consumes 3000 calories of fatless chicken. It will however LOSE fat if it eats only 1000 calories... even if it's pure chicken fat. Albeit, the volume of a calorically-equal, fat-laden diet will be less because there are more calories per gram in fat than either protein or carbohydrates.

That's not to say either diet is appropriate in the grand scheme of things.

To tenativly answer the question, an appropriate amount of chicken skin depends on the caloric needs of your dog. Fat alone is not neccesarily that which one should eliminate if a reduction in weight (thus) calories is required.

If weight manipulation is required, I'd say keep the proportions the same, but simply scaled down or up.

Keep in mind, I'm not speaking from canine experience.

Thanks for your reply. I wasn't really thinking in terms of weight gain, but rather, in terms of things such as pancreatitis, loose stools, or other health concerns that one might need to take into consideration.

Ooohhhh. I plead ignorance then.

I do appreciate your thoughtful answer, though!!!!

I am so excited that I have to brag. I just found a local Halal butcher (lamb, beef, goat, chicken) who is going to GIVE me meat scraps, bones, and organ meat from his slaughter house. He says that he throws away around 100lbs+ of edible scraps and bones from animals he raises. He wants to see all that waste get used.

THAT ROCKS! Organ meat, meat scraps, bones, extra unsold hamberger (ground daily). . .

Now I can keep the grass lambs I bought, as pets.

My daughter loves them. She,"don't wanna eat dem!"

Van camp with pets... how cute...

I had planned to buy two beef cattle this year. I was going to name one chicken and one turkey...

Why you ask?

When someone asks "what's for dinner?"

I could say, Chicken

"that doesn't look like chicken"

Oh, trust me, it IS chicken

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

That sounds like a great way to keep the meat fresh... just keep it alive. Let the dogs take bites out of the cows at their leisure. Right? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />